Enhancements in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry based on laser properties and ambient environment

Analytical performance of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) depends critically on the interaction between the laser light and the sample. The analyte emission line intensity in ICP-AES depends on the quantity of mass ablated. The effect of laser parameters (wavelength, pulse duration, and power density) was investigated for increasing the quantity of ablated mass. For fixed laser beam energy, the ablated mass can change 2 to 3 orders of magnitude by changing the laser beam spot size on the sample. The ablated mass quantity also depends on laser pulse duration and wavelength; and on ambient gas in the sample chamber. The shorter the pulse duration and wavelength, the higher the quantity of ablated mass. By using He in the chamber, the amount of mass increases by a factor of 2 for 30 ns excimer laser ablation and by an order of magnitude for ps-laser ablation.